Sadie
Lapp returns home after spending the winter with her newlywed sister in Ohio. Her
return is completely unexpected and surprising, but not as much as the fact
that she comes carrying a baby in a basket. Soon, she is the talk of her Amish
county. Everybody assumes the baby is hers, even Gideon, the young man that has
been courting her for the past few months, and his reaction and response to the
situation puts a strain in their relationship.
Meanwhile,
Sadie starts getting closer to Will, a troubled college student who is staying at the Lapp farm acting as a
guard for a pair of falcons that is nesting there. Although Will is an
Englisher, Sadie can’t help but feel attracted to him; and he cannot help being
attracted to her. As their relationship grows, Gideon does everything he can to
have her forgiveness and win her back.
Who are the
baby’s parents? Who left him with Sadie? Why? And which way will Sadie’s heart
go in the end?
Suzanne
Woods Fisher is a great story teller. She is funny and endearing where the
story needs it; sweet and tender where it calls for it; and compelling and
profound where it requires it. Here we have a very well written love triangle
that makes you feel for all three involved, care for each of them, and
constantly change your mind when it comes to who Sadie should choose in the
end. This is a sweet story of love and forgiveness.
Sadie
is thrust into a situation that would be hard for anyone, even more so for a 15
year old girl: a rumor that her trip to visit her sister looked highly
suspicious and that the baby she brought home is hers. She learns the hard way
about gossip: how hurtful and unfair it is, and how incredibly fast it spreads.
But through this entire situation, quiet and shy Sadie learns to find her
voice, to confront things head on, speak her mind and grow up. A great example
of how God uses these types of situations in our life for our own good. However,
although Sadie certainly did need to grow up and stand up for herself, I think
the author forgot that she is only 15 years old: she sounds way too mature, too
wise when handing out advice to much older people. A 21 year old or maybe even
an 18 year old Sadie would have made more sense.
Now,
in this story we not only get to see Sadie’s side of things; we see Gideon’s
and Will’s points of view, as well as Sadie’s father’s and M.K.’s points of
view. And that is one point of view too many. I don’t mind her father’s side of
the story simply because it’s not Sadie’s love story alone, but her father’s as
well. And I loved seeing him sort out his feelings for Fern, my favorite
character in this series. But M.K, Sadie’s youngest sister, is too annoying for
me and I constantly wished there was less of her. The way she is written, she
is mostly a caricature, an exaggeration.
The
story kept my interest and my anticipation all the way through. I wanted to see
Sadie’s father happy with Fern, a remarkable, very well written character; a
sweet and caring woman disguised as a stern housekeeper. But mostly, of course,
I wanted to see the resolution of this funny and interesting love triangle.
Sadly, however, I was disappointed. Although the story is a great journey, the
ending left me without closure; it was too open and inconclusive. Sadie’s final
and most expected choice is mostly implied. In the end, we didn’t get to see
much of Sadie, so her thought process was lost on me. However, although
disappointed with the ending, the story is so well written, the characters so likable
(well, most of them anyway) that I still felt satisfied.
4 out of 5 stars
*I received a copy of this book from Revell through The Christian Manifesto (cool site! Check it out.) in exchange of an honest review.
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